Foreign Concepts
by Problem Child1
Summary: Rory Gilmore has never been the one to pine, instead being pined after. What a new experience for her. PDLD


Disclaimer: Amy and Daniel Palladino, along with the rest of the WB, own Gilmore Girls.

A/N: For those of you waiting for my next installment of TMW, well, here's some PDLD action to tide you over. It's just a one-shot, but I think it helps. Yeah, I was getting bored of not writing any PDLD action, so here we go!

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The first thing she noticed about him was his eyes. They were a deep, mossy green, mesmerizing with hidden depths. She was forever getting lost in them, though she knew that it was wrong to want to stare at him like that. They intrigued her; she wanted to find out about him because of them. Who was he, really? What did he like? Dislike? Shw wanted to know all of his layers.

The second thing she noticed was the curve of his lips, his smile. It was mischievous and daring, but on the rare occasion it was sweet and sincere. She wanted to melt when it was directed toward her, as it often was. She loved the stubble that framed his jaw most of the time. It wasn't just 5 o'clock shadow, it was him.

The third-and most glaringly obvious-thing she noticed was that he was her boyfriend's best friend. She was lusting after her boyfriend's best friend. She was a horrible person. Every night she vowed to stop, yet every day she couldn't. Maybe it was because she always wanted what she couldn't have. He was her college-era Jess.

She couldn't break up with Logan, however. That would be heartache for everyone involved. She didn't want to break up the friendship of Logan and Finn either. They were soulmates, always together, and she was just there. They'd always been friends and would continue to be friends long after she was out of the picture.

So she pined. She didn't think that she'd ever truly pined before. It was a foreign concept, uncharted territory. Then again, she supposed that she'd pined for Jess, just subconsciously. She couldn't lie and say that she enjoyed it, but at least she saw him on a semi-daily basis.

She remembered the first time she had realized she was attracted to him. She, Logan and Finn were watching a movie at Logan's dorm and she was in between the two of them. Finn was eating ice cream, she'd forgotten what kind, and she got caught up in the way his lips curved around the spoon.

"Want some, doll?" Finn had asked when he noticed her staring.

She had blushed. "Sure, ice cream. That'd be cool. I love ice cream."

He had looked at her oddly after she'd said that. "Good to know." And he had spooned her out some and fed it to her without a second thought.

That had been over a month ago. She thought that it'd go away, no harm no foul. It hadn't. It wasn't as if it was interrupting her studies, rarely anything did, however it frustrated her that she couldn't do anything about it, nor would she be able to in the near future.

Besides, on the extremely off chance that Logan would be okay with it-or that she'd want Logan to be okay with it- there was still Finn to consider. Who ever said that he was interested? Did he ever give her any indication either way? And even if he was, she knew that he was a player. Everyone knew that tidbit of information; William Shakespeare, the great romantic that he was, was currently shaking his head at her school girl crush.

Her cell phone rang, snapping her out of her thoughts. She was in the newsroom, and her keyboard hadn't been touched for at least fifteen minutes. She sighed and picked up the phone. "Round Table Pizza."

"Damn," the distinctly Australian voice cursed. "I was hoping for IHOP."

She smiled widely at the familiar voice and leaned back in her chair. "Hello, Finn. What can I do for you today?"

"Me."

Her eyes widened. "Excuse me?"

He chuckled. "Can you do me a favor?" he repeated.

"Oh. Sure."

"Can you pretty please come over?"

"What for?" she asked as calmly as possible.

"It's an emergency!"

"Care to state the nature of it?"

"We need to plan Logan's surprise birthday."

Her face fell. "I don't think so." It's not that she didn't want to plan her boyfriend's surprise birthday, quite the opposite, she just didn't want to plan it with Finn.

"Please?" Finn pleaded. "Come on, Rory. It's not every often that I beg, you know that. I'm giving you my adorable puppy face over the phone."

She wavered. "Well-"

"C'mon, it's gonna be a party: you, me and Colin," he promised.

"Okay," she relented. If Colin would be there, what could or would happen? "What time?"

"Now."

"Now?" she echoed doubtfully. She glanced outside, watching the people rush by in the autumn dusk.

"Yes. You need to drop everything and come as quickly as possible, as I would do if you were ever in dire need to ruin your best friend's birthday."

"Fine, I'll be there in five minutes." The things she did for him.

"Thank you!" Finn sang.

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True to her word she was there five minutes later after having promised Doyle that she'd have the article on his desk the next day. Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door. She could do this, it wasn't hard. She saw him almost every day, sometimes more than that.

Finn answered the door with a grin and a huge hug which literally swept her off her feet because he was so tall. _Did he just smell my hair?_ she thought, but brushed it off. He wouldn't do that.

"Come in, come in," he ushered. "Slight change of plans, that whacker Colin can't make it: He gave me wine tasting up in Napa as a suggestion."

Rory wrinkled her nose. "Ew. No."

"My sentiments exactly. So now we have to find something that will accommodate all of us. It shall be a daunting task. Are you up for it, love?"

She nodded. "That I am. First order of business, when is it?" She sat down on the couch and he pulled up a bar stool to sit on across from her.

"Next weekend."

"Isn't his birthday tomorrow?"

"This is why it'll be such a surprise!" Finn cried. "Besides, as you well know, Logan is gallivanting around with his father. And even I couldn't pull off that shit by tomorrow, despite my miracle man tendencies."

As heir to the newspaper kingdom his father had set up, Logan was forced to go on monthly business trips with Mitchum to "learn the trade," as he had put it.

"Which is a good thing," Finn continued, "because who knows how long this bloody mess'll take. We have to call everyone, arrange accommodations, et-bloody-cetera." He caught her eye and grinned. They stayed like that until she looked away, blushing.

"So what ideas did you have in mind?" she questioned.

He shrugged. "1800s saloon, perchance."

"As in _Deadwood_ or John Wayne?"

"The airport?" he replied, obviously confused.

"The person! Why would I be talking about the airport?"

"I don't know, why were you comparing John Wayne to an 1800s saloon?"

"Because he always did cowboy movies."

Finn laughed and shook his head. "Enchanting thought process, I must say. However, I was thinking about ballroom dancing."

"I don't ballroom dance."

"You don't?"

"You do?" she countered.

"Get up, I'm showing you." He jumped off his stool and stood in front of her.

"Are you bored already?"

"Is it that obvious?" He slumped back down into his seat.

"How about we pick another theme, and after we're done making preparations, if you so desire, you can teach me how to ballroom dance," Rory suggested.

"Sounds like a deal."

"Any suggestions?"

"Not one. We definitely need a them, however. Also, we're having it at the Ritz."

"Fancy," she commented. "Is Ella Fitzgerald going to be singing for us?"

"Now, we are too classy to 'put,'" Finn replied, getting up. "Hungry?"

"Always." She turned to face the mini fridge he'd gone to.

"We have ice cream, whipped cream, cream cheese- bloody hell, do we have anything not in the cream family?"

She giggled. "Ice cream is good."

"Any preferences? We seem to have taken over Ben & Jerry's and are now mass producing the stuff out of our freezer," he informed her.

"Do you have strawberry cheesecake?"

"Daring, combining two desserts into one," he commented. "Flying fuck, we do!" He slammed the door shut and brought back the two pints of ice cream.

"What flavor do you have?" Rory asked as he sat down next to her.

"Dublin Mudslide," he proudly replied, taking a bite.

She rolled her eyes. "Even your ice cream is spiked."

"Damn straight."

"So who should we invite?" She took a bite of her own ice cream.

Finn watched with rapt fascination as she wrapped her lips around the spoon and slowly pulled it out. _That should be illegal_, he decided. He suddenly realized that she wasn't eating ice cream anymore but instead staring at him.

"Finn?" she questioned uncertainly. "Are you okay?"

"Peachy keen, love. What'd you ask?"

"Who do you think we should invite?"

"The LDB, his roommates," Finn rattled off. "Um, others."

"You have no idea who we hangs out with outside of yourself, do you?"

"What can I say, I'm self-absorbed. And how can I not be? I'm a sexy beast, minus Ben Kingsly."

She laughed, but didn't look at him. "So I guess we should start calling. There are a lot of people in the LDB."

"That's well and dandy, but we have to decide on a theme first," he gently reminded her. "How about '20s flapper themed? I know a person who makes excellent moonshine."

"How about the object of Logan's birthday is that we not get him arrested." Rory suggested.

Finn flopped back and pouted. "If you're going to shoot down all of my ideas, you should at least come up with one of your own."

"Havana Nights."

"We did that two years ago. Next?"

"Toga party?"

"Too _Animal House_. Next?"

"Now who's shooting down all the ideas?"

"Okay, Victoria's Secret."

"Be realistic."

"I am. I'm realistically thinking that you'd look especially hot in red lace."

Rory turned bright red and looked down. "Next."

Finn reached out and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "Did I make you uncomfortable, doll?"

"No," she mumbled, looking back up. "How about Elizabethan?"

Finn retracted his hand to stroke his chin thoughtfully. "I think we may have a winner."

She clapped her hands together gleefully. "Really?"

He smiled. "Really."

They caught gazes again and stayed locked together until Finn reached out and brushed his thumb against the side of her lip.

"What?" she asked softly.

"Ice cream," he replied just as softly, licking it off his thumb.

She tore her gaze away from his and put her pint of ice cream on the coffee table. "I guess we should start calling people."

When she turned back, however, Finn brushed his lips against hers. She didn't pull back right away, but when she did she placed her fingers on her lips. "Logan."

"Is not as sexy as you," Finn finished, taking her hand. She didn't object. He leaned forward again to kiss her. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he pulled her onto his lap.

"We have to stop," she gasped as he trailed kissed down her jaw line to her ear.

"Rory," he growled, right into her earlobe, nipping at it slightly, "you make me bloody insane. There's no way I'm stopping now."

She ran her hands through his hair. "Logan," she repeated.

"That's not my name," he reminded her.

She giggled and kissed him again. "That's not what I meant and you know it, Finn."

"He's not here. I love him, but I don't want to be with him. And neither do you, otherwise you wouldn't be doing this right now."

Well, that was true. "You sound cheesy," she teased.

"Lots of those bloody chick flicks. They've infested my speech, especially when it comes to you."

Their lips met again as their shirts came off. He pulled her impossibly close to him and she grasped his hair. Finally, he had to get up. Without a word, he took her hand and led her to the bedroom.

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The next day Rory woke up curled into Finn's chest. They were in his bedroom. She noted how warm his skin was. His chest was muscular and tan, and she felt the urge to run her fingernail over his muscles. At least she was no longer pining, and she knew it wasn't unrequited.

Yet, she had cheated. Cheated on the man she didn't love. With Finn. His best friend. She didn't love Finn, but she definitely liked him.

He sighed and tightened his arms around her waist. "You 'ave gorgeous morning sex 'air," he mumbled, kissing her collarbone.

"Your eyes aren't even open," she accused playfully.

"Minor technicality." He pulled her toward him to give her a proper good morning kiss. In doing so he rolled her over onto himself. "I am your willing geisha, do whatever you need to my body."

She giggled and leaned down to give him another kiss. "Such a martyr."

"I'm always willing to make sacrifices for the greater good."

"I can tell," she patronized.

"I'm also willing to sacrifice my day so I can spend it with you. Here. The whole day."

"So sweet."

"I try." He leaned up to her ear, his hot breath wreaking havoc on her senses. "Ready for the next round?"


End file.
